Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 53.625,-2.516 or 53°37'30"N 2°30'56"W |  | BL6 6SL |
The symbol shows the location of the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter which serves 2,690,000 homes. The bright green areas shown where the signal from this transmitter is strong, dark green areas are poorer signals. Those parts shown in yellow may have interference on the same frequency from other masts.
Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) mast?
Winter Hill transmitter - Winter Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 18/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-2 16QAM 2K 3/4 18.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which Freeview channels does the Winter Hill transmitter broadcast?
If you have any kind of Freeview fault, follow this Freeview reset procedure first.Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
| Mux | H/V | Frequency | Height | Mode | Watts |
| PSB1 BBCA | H max | C32 (562.0MHz) | 726m | DTG- | 100,000W |
 1 BBC One (SD) North West, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 17 others | |||||
| PSB2 D3+4 | H max | C34 (578.0MHz) | 726m | DTG- | 100,000W |
 3 ITV 1 (SD) (Granada), 4 Channel 4 (SD) North ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 North ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Granada), 71 That’s 60s, | |||||
| PSB3 BBCB | H max | C35- (585.8MHz) | 726m | DTG- | 100,000W |
 46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD North West, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Granada), 104 Channel 4 HD North ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others | |||||
| COM4 SDN | H max | C29 (538.0MHz) | 726m | DTG-8 | 100,000W |
 20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others | |||||
| COM5 ArqA | H max | C31 (554.0MHz) | 726m | DTG-8 | 100,000W |
 11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others | |||||
| COM6 ArqB | H max | C37 (602.0MHz) | 726m | DTG-8 | 100,000W |
 12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others | |||||
| LM | H -20dB | C40 (626.0MHz) | 572m | DTG-12 | 1,000W |
 from 1st October 2014: 7 That's Manchester, | |||||
| LL | H -17dB | C24 (498.0MHz) | 572m | DTG-12 | 2,000W |
 from 30th June 2014: 7 Bay TV Liverpool, | |||||
| LPR | H -20dB | C56 (754.0MHz) | 572m | DTG-12 | 1,000W |
 from 1st October 2014: 7 That's Lancashire, | |||||
| GIM | H -20dB | C57 (762.0MHz) | 572m | DTG-2 | 1,000W |
 Now 90s, Spotlight TV, Clubland TV, Country Music Entertainment , Classic Hits MCR, 77 That's 60s MCR, 78 TCC, 80 That's 80s, 86 That's 90s MCR, 88 TV Warehouse+1, | |||||
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-2 16QAM 2K 3/4 18.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Winter Hill transmitter?
BBC North West Tonight 3.1m homes 11.8%
from Salford M50 2QH, 22km southeast (140°)
to BBC North West region - 92 masts.
ITV Granada Reports 3.1m homes 11.6%
from Salford M50 2EQ, 22km southeast (139°)
to ITV Granada region - 80 masts.
How will the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1956-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2009 | 2009-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 20 Feb 2020 | ||
| VHF | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E T | W T | W T | ||
| C9 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
| C12 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C24 | _local | ||||||||
| C29 | SDN | ||||||||
| C31 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C32 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C34 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C35 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C37 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C40 | LOCAL2 | ||||||||
| C48 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C49tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C50tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
| C54tv_off | -BBCB | -BBCB | -BBCB | ||||||
| C55tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | com7tv_off | ||
| C56tv_off | _local | _local | _local | LPR | |||||
| C57tv_off | GIM | GIM | GIM | GIM | |||||
| C58tv_off | SDN | SDN | SDN | ||||||
| C59tv_off | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C61 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C62 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | |||||
| C65 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
tv_off Being removed from Freeview (for 5G use) after November 2020 / June 2022 - more
Table shows multiplexes names see this article;
green background for transmission frequencies
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W T
waves denotes analogue; digital switchover was 4 Nov 09 and 2 Dec 09.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 500kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 100kW | |
| com7 | (-12.9dB) 25.7kW | |
| com8 | (-13.4dB) 22.6kW | |
| Analogue 5 | (-16dB) 12.5kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-17dB) 10kW | |
| LL | (-24dB) 2kW | |
| GIM, LM, LPR | (-27dB) 1000W |
Local transmitter maps
Winter Hill Freeview Winter Hill DAB Winter Hill AM/FM Winter Hill TV region BBC North West GranadaWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Winter Hill transmitter area
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Friday, 21 February 2020
C
Chris.SE2:52 AM
Dave LW:
You should get virtually perfect reception from Winter Hill at your location. I can't find any reports of any problems with power reductions either by Freeview or the BBC, everything should be running as normal.
There might have been a temporary blip of course, but if you still have the problem, check out your flyleads and other coax connections in case you have disturbed something, eg. if you unplugged the aerial to retune to clear previous tuning first.
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D
Dave LW11:25 AM
Having looked at the aerial more closely from the ground, it seems the installer had fitted it with the connection box the wrong way up (on top of the boom, rather than underneath), so I guess rainwater probably got in to it, explaining why it worked well initially, but less so now, and it was just a coincidence that the signal degradation happened just when the Winter Hill changes did.
Luckily, though the scaffolding for the roof job is being taken down as we speak, there's enough in the relevant area to give access for a fix.
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D
David Ashworth12:47 PM
Chorley
PR7 1PT.
PROBLEM: Approx 10 year old SONY BRAVIA LCD TV : Model: KDL 40EX 403. Specifically built to accomodate the changeover period from Analog to Digital TV, avoiding the need for a Digibox. It has an Analog/Digital choice button on the remote, but NOT on the TV itself. The instruction Manual has a section: Watching TV. This tells me 1. To turn on the TV. 2. To select a mode (Analog or Digital). NOTE this was set to DIGITAL from Day 1 and never altered. 3 Select a Channel either using the programme rocker switch, or if preferred when using digital, press guide and select.
Following yesterday's Freeview Changes, I did a digital auto-retune, in the course of which I could clearly see the digital channels being found. It informed me that the retune was complete, and asked for confirmation, for which I pressed the button for on the remote. I pressed Back/Return to go back to the horizontal menu, and went across to Digital. Below the Digital Symbol was the Guide signal. I clicked on guide, and it told me it had no information stored!!
It transpired that the TV Set had reverted to Analog Mode and this was confirmed when the i-Manual button on the remote was pressed. Having pressed the Analog/Digital selection button to NO effect, I switched the TV off, unplugged it from the Mains Electricity, waited 2 minutes, and re-started the TV. I got a fuzzy screen and a Sh-ing noise - clearly Analog. I tried the Mode button to change to Digital, but it did not work. The green on-light on the TV flashed 15 times before it ceased to flash, but the TV remains in Analog mode!!!
Anyone know what this is all about? The Set has worked perfectly for 10 years. I have a lady friend who lives in Bolton. She has a Panasonic TV of a similar vintage. Her TV has done the same thing and is now stuck in analog!
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David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
js2:54 PM
David Ashworth: Is it not possible to carry out a retune?
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M
Mr R. Tyson3:33 PM
Hi,
At 14:00 on 20 Feb retuned TV as advised by News program. Now no BBC channels. All freeview channels working but BBC channels breaking up and unusable.
TV has been auto tuned, manually tuned, reset to manufacturers specs, auto tuned without aerial to clear the memories and...... still no BBC channels and everything else working.
What have the BBC done to break the system ? I suppose it helps to decide if I will get a TV licence or not at renewal time.
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J
js4:19 PM
Mr R. Tyson: You might need a new aerial. See Important changes to Freeview | Freeview
You should find the original channels in your channel list on these numbers:
751 BBC ONE N West
752 BBC TWO
755 BBC FOUR
756 CBBC
757 CBeebies
758 BBC NEWS
759 BBC Parliament
760 BBC Red Button
761 BBC RB 1
762 BBC Radio 1
763 BBC R1X
764 BBC Radio 2
765 BBC Radio 3
766 BBC Radio 4
767 BBC R5L
768 BBC R5SX
769 BBC 6 Music
770 BBC Radio 4 Ex
771 BBC Asian Net.
772 BBC World Sv.
773 BBC Manchester
774 BBC Lancashire
775 BBC Cumbria
776 BBC Merseyside
777 BBC Stoke
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C
Chris.SE9:07 PM
David Ashworth:
I don't know if there's anything here that may help, I haven't read it.
Questions and Answers about
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C
Chris.SE11:47 PM
Mr R. Tyson:
The BBC has done nothing to "break the system" . If you want to understand what all the changes are about see
What is 700MHz clearance? | Freeview
The BBC have some information for Winter Hill as well - Problems with Freeview reception? | Help receiving TV and radio
Click on "Engineering work affecting television services in the North West of England on the 19th and 20th February" for explanatory detail.
As js has already said visit Important changes to Freeview | Freeview for information about the free help.
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Saturday, 22 February 2020
D
David Parr4:20 PM
I lost BBC1 & 2 on Thursday 20th February 20 because I had an old narrowband aerial from the analogue days which just happens to be totally "blind" on channel 32, the BBC A mux. I fitted a new wideband aerial today and problem is 100% fixed.
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